Ill i ) 1 ■rrTTriTrr"!^ •ajfssBSiBSasiJijfi I '"m lliiiilll '/I f i 111.!': :illi!H!!!l!i;i!!i!lliliilllllllllllllllllliiiiliili!illli!!iiilllllilllllli|llin^ j Wgj^ | lffi7iiW )ia;i< "^; .y t .^ g i.- BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME PROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF 1891 A.^n-^i^n M n 9724 Cornell University Library BX8581.P5 R61 History of the Moravian church in Philad oiin 3 1924 029 473 364 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029473364 HISTOKY MORAVIAN CHURCH PHILADELPHIA. C Fac Simile ) H I S T E Y MORAYIAN CHURCH PHILADELPHIA, ITS FOUNDATION IN 1742 TO THE PSESENT TIME. COMPEISTNG NOTICES, DEFEXSIVE OF ITS FOUNDER AND PATRON, COUNT NICHOLAS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORFF. TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX. ABRAHAM BITTER. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY HATES & ZELL. 185 7. TESTIMONIALS. Brother Abraham Ritter submits to me three drawings, which he intends to have engraved and published, as illustrative of a his- tory, -which he is writing, of the Brethren's Church in Philadelphia. I have carefully examined those drawings, and have no hesitancy in giving this assurance, — that each and every one of them is an accu- rate and faithful representation of the several parts of the several buildings erected by the United Brethren in Philadelphia, as places of worship, for the residence of the congregational minister, and for the accommodation of such of the brethren and sisters as business might call to Philadelphia, for a short time. Those buildings were on the southeast corner of Race Street and Moravian Alley — now called Bread Street. I have always understood that these buildings were all erected about the year 1742 ; and I know they were taken down in 1819. No. 1, The Exterior of the Church, and the Parsonage attached, in which the elders of the Church met on business, and in which there was public worship and congregational meetings. No. 2, represents the Lower,u)r Audience-Room, for public wor- ship, in the same Church ; and VI TESTIMONIALS. No. 3, is a view of the Upper Room or Hall of the old Moravian Church. JOHN BINNS. Phiiadelphia, July 9th, 1856. I HAVE examined the drawings of the Interior and Exterior of the original Moravian Church in Philadelphia; all of which — having been an early member, and regular worshipper in the said building — I am happy to confirm as truthful and characteristic recollections of that edifice. GEORGE ESLEE. Philadelphia, Aug. 2Sili, 1 850. PEEFACE. Were It for the mere pleasure of writing a book, or the evaporative fame of authorship, the contents of this volume would have slept in the unexplored bosom of its fathers ; yet there is a motive, a design, and a pleasure in the research, inasmuch as the lights and shades of antiquity may be elicited to refresh the memory of the centenarian, or enlighten the wonderings of the satchelled youth, or the full- fledged collegian. There, is, however, in this, as there is doubtless in all communities, a portion of our race for whom obli- vion would seem to have been permitted, who pass every yesterday of their existence, and that of their ancestors, as though Time had but just marked their being, and the " everlasting now" was the necessary absorbent of all that life holds dear. 'Tis well, however, for our day and its succession, that the germs of antiquity will sprout, from time to time, ,and bud, blossom, and bloom, under the fructi- fying influences of its bedewing patronage; and well, too, for history and its cravings, that there are lovers VIU PREFACE. of dusty records, prone to sweep their pages, and pre- sent and compare the past with the present, by the autographic details of " the things that were," My motive, therefore, is to gather, from the dust of obUvion, the atoms of a venerable centre, re- mould the dignity of an ancient pile, and present it, its constituents, and its successors, to the heirs and representatives of their early fathers, as well as to the antiquarian spirit of the present, or the future age. My design is to call up the spirit of our fathers, to chasten our own waywardness, to simplify our man- ners, to imbue us with their faith and faithfulness, to qualify our practices — else endangered by modernized Christianity — to elasticize a more apostolic atmo- sphere, and to offer St. Paul's call upon the Philip- pians, 3 : 17, " Brethren, be ye followers together of me, and mark them which walk so, as ye have us for an ensample." Although considerably beyond the meridian of life, . I have abundant cause for gratitude to my merciful Providence, for the freshness of all my faculties ; my " eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor my ear with hearing ;" hence, a retrospect of my own times, and a social fondling with the times of our predecessors, is a pleasure remunerative in its issues, and suffi- ciently so to protect me from the charge of vanity, too often appurtenant to authorship. In thus offering my gatherings to the public, I am PREFACE. IX happy to say that they are neither indebted to fancy for lights, nor to imagination for shades; the plain matter-of-fact accompanies the representation of the origin of the reminiscence, and the attest being by two competent contemporaneous eye-witnesses, ought, at least, to be guarantees for credulity. Under the artistic and skilful hand of our towns- man, Mr. Edward F. Durang — whose ready mind and quick conception caught up my dots and lines — memory is embodied, and speech to the eye enforced, from the fac simile of a speck of a hundred and more years ago. His delineations of both the exterior and the interior of the " old Moravian Church," are truthful to a line ; which, though drawn from early impressions, deep- ened by continuous associations, ripened by time, and warmed into resuscitation in the bosom of an anti- quarian spirit, are still the accurate architectural remodelling of his hands, graphic beyond cavil, and fresh as to an eye-witness; to this let the testimo- nials speak. The portraits of the bishops, &c., are equally relia- ble, being from the original canvas in the conserva- tory in Herrnhuth. In reference to my review of the letters of James Logan, the opinion of Kalm, the Swedish traveller, and their indorsement nearly one hundred years after their date, by their furtherance to posterity in the "Annals of Philadelphia," by John F. Watson, I 1* X PEEFACE. have but to remark, that the indignity inflicted upon the memory of Count Zinzendorff, his highly respect- able descendants, and the spiritual fruit of his labors, ripe and ripening to Christian perfection, has volun- tarily and unprovokedly thrown off the mantle of qualification, bared its offensive front to the ad libi- tum repulse of a respectable Christian community, and cannot complain if severity tips the thong that reaches the source of the evil. Yet I set nothing down in malice ; but honest Chris- tian zeal, grown to an extensive evidence of good sound sense — else impugned — is justly entitled to a champion. For the rest, I offer the volume as a link of time to time, and perpetuity to the manes of departed worth. THE AUTHOE. CONTENTS. Preface, 9 Introduction, 1.") CHAPTER I. Some aocount of Count Nicholas Lewis voti Zinzendorff, and the object of his visit to to America, 17 CHAPTER II. AVatson'a Annals versus Zinzendorff, and defence against unjust accusations, 22 CHAPTER III. Zinzendorffs Hymnology and Talent for Poetry — Defence — Quali- fication, &c., 38 CHAPTER IV. Localie of the Original Moravian Church, and Title Brief of the Lot, 41 CHAPTER V. The Burial-Ground — Title — First interments, &c. &c., ... 45 XU CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Location and Description of the Exterior — East and West Fronts of the Church Edifice, 49 CHAPTER VII. The Parsonage — (Vide Ground Plan, and Interior Arrangement), 52 CHAPTER VIII. The Lower Audience Chamber of the Church Proper (see drawing annexed) — Organs — Organists and Organ Builders, . . 55 CHAPTER IX. Description of the Hall, or Upper Chamber (see drawing) — Use of the Hall, &c. 63 CHAPTER X. Front Entrance — Garden, 67 CHAPTER XL The Primitive Opening of the Church — Organization — Original Officers and Succession, &c. &c., 70 CHAPTER XIL The Authorities of the Church — Their Source, Order, &c., . . 74 CHAPTER XIII. The Finances of the Church, 78 CHAPTER XIV. The Rev. John Meder, with a Portrait — Costume and Classifica- tion of His, and Earlier Times in the Church, . . . 81 CONTENTS. XIU CHAPTER XV. Chapel Servants, and Biographical Sketches^Inviters, &c. &c , . 87 CHAPTER XVI. The Burial-Gronnd — Order of Services, &c., .... 49 CHAPTER XVII. The Discipline, 97 CHAPTER XVIII. The Pedelavium, or Washing of Feet, 103 CHAPTER XIX. fl The Holy Communion — Kiss of Peace, and Doctrine of the Sacra- ment, 105 CHAPTER XX. The Liturgy, or Liturgies and Litanies, 113 CHAPTER XXL The Lot, .118 CHAPTER XXIL Feasts and Fasts, 129 CHAPTER XXIIL The Agapse, or Love-Feasls— Their Origin — Continuance, &e., . 141 CHAPTER XXIV. Dress, and Address of the Early Moravian?, 145 CHAPTER XXV. The Music of the Church, and Church Choirs in General — Objec- tions, &c., 149 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI. Church History, and Succession of Officers resumed and con- tinued, CHAPTER XXVII. Destruction of the Original Building, and Erection arid Description of its Successor, CHAPTER XXVIII. Interregnum — Demolition of the Original Parsonage, . CHAPTER XXIX. The Renewal — Change of Location, CHAPTER XXX. Description of the New Edifice — Organ, (Sec, . . . . 160 168 173 176 179 CHAPTER XXXI. Succession of Officers continued — Incorporation, &c., CHAPTER XXXII. The Episcopacy, Biographical Sketch of Bishop John Amos Comenius, Biography of Bishop John De Watteville, August Gottleib Spangenberg, Peter Boehler, . ... Leonard Dober, . " Rev. Christian David, . " Bishop David Nitchman, . " Erdmuth Dorothea, Countess of Zinzendorff, u il It u 184 ig.'? 194 196 200 204 207 210 214 217 CHAPTER XXXIII. Conclusion — Table of the Episcopate, &c., .. 220 CONTENTS. XV APPENDIX. CHAPTER I. A Glimpse of the Early Settlement, or Immediate Euvirons of the First Moravian Church, with Recollections of the Tenants in Common of that and after-times, from the Church to Second Street, and southward to the west side of Drinkers Alley, and northward, east side, to the Southeast Corner of Second and Race Streetl^ with some Account of John Stephen Benezet, and family, . . 23,3 CHAPTER II. Continuance of Comparative View, from the Southeast Corner of Second and Race Street, East and West Side of Second to New Street, and North Side of Race to Third Street, ... 244 CHAPTER III. From Third and Race, northward, to New Street, and returning. West Side, to Race Street, . . .' . . . . 255 CHAPTER IV. White Swan — Race above Third, and Third below Race Street — Frederick Beates, Andrew Leinau, Jacob Mayland, &c., — and Race Street, eastward to the Church, ... .259 CONCLUSION. A Stray Chapter, comprising a View from Second to Front, in Race Street, and a Review of Second Street from Drinker's Alley to Arch Street, and back unto Biographia of some of the Life of that Section, 267 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Count Zinzendorff, Frontispiece. 2. Ground Plan, 41 3. The Original Church of 1742, ... . . 49 4. The same, with the Parsonage of 1746, 52 5. Interior of tlie Lower Audience Chamber, ... 65 6. Interior of the Upper Chamber or " Hall," .... 68 7. Portrait of Rev. John Meder, 81 8. " Jacob' Bitter, Senior, 89 9. " Zachariah Poulson, the Elder, . . . .91 10. " a Moravian Sister in Costume, .... 145 11. Church and Parsonage of 1820, 168 12. Portrait of Wm.H. Van Vleck, ... . . 172 13. Church of 1856, and Burial-Ground of 1757, . . . .176 14. Portrait of Bishop John Amos Comenius, . . . .194 15. " " John De Watteville, . . . . 196 16. " " Aug. Gottlieb Spangenberg, . . .200 17. " " Peter Boehler, .... .204 18. " " Leonard Dober, 207 19. " Missionary — Christian David, . . . .210 20. " " David Nitchman, 214 21. " Erdmuth Dorothea, Countess Von Zinzendorif, . 217 INTRODUCTION. If Time disaggregates material, it does not deny a com- pensatory medium to the association of the past with the future ; nor can it, for if even records fail, Memory, in- vigorated by age, and strengthened by exercise, comes to the rescue, lights up the past, and rejuvenates amongst the ruins, or their shades, of the wisdom of our early fathers ! History is the handmaid of Time. But for it, the things that were, would be smothered in the dust of oblivion, or their manes scattered, to be gathered only by the already impervious cloud that hangs tauntingly over the past; hence, to link time to time, and gather up the crumbs of its early forbearance, I venture upon the ocean of recol- lection, and offer from its bosom the floating compo- nents of a part, at least, of the dignity of its day ! My object is not merely to amuse with flights of fancy, or tints of fitful imagination, but in very truth and sober- ness, to tax the throne of observation, call up the ener- gies of reflection, and present the fruits from memory's grafts as nursed and nurtured by the irrigation of tradi- tion, as well as from the garner of winnowed gatherings. But Data, too, are before me, and Records are imperious ; but Memory — jealous of its prerogative — may not be XX INTRODUCTION. I impugned, seeing that contemporaneoua attest confirms its portrait. The First Moravian Church in Philadelphia, even then a colony of Great Britain, is certainly not the least of her sisters in our great city's ancient landmarks; but, on the contrary, has indubitable claims to a respectful reference, as well for her unpretending structure, as such, as for the labors of her love as a pioneer in the vine- yard of Him, who commanded his disciples to go and work in it. HISTORY OF THE MOllAYIAN CHURCH • IN PHILADELPHIA. CHAPTER I. The Right Rev. Nicholas Lewis von Zinzendorff — Some account of the object of his visit to America. Amongst the annals of 1742, the debut of Count Zin- zendorff to this, from foreign climes, may not be con- sidered the least of the events of that day. He came, not as a mere adventurer, not as a time- killing wanderer, nor as a visionary fanatic, to gratify a morbid appetite for fame, but to give vent to the abundance of his heart in another sphere, and under the impulse of the Spirit of God, as far as in him lay, further the Gospel of Jesus Christ, plant his faith as a grain of mustard-seed, and water it with the dews of prayer and supplication. This gentleman was the son of George Lewis, Count Zinzendorff, and born in Dresden, on the 26th of May, A.D. 1700. His father was a premier of the court of Saxony, but withal a pious and devoted servant of God, a member of 2 18 HISTORY OF THE MOKAVIAN CHURCH the Lutheran Church ; and his son was baptized in that faith; but subsequently, about A.D. 1723, became one of four United Brethren, at Berthelsdorf ; and on May 12th, 1724, was present at, and took part in laying the corner-stone of the church at Herrnhuth. Although much engaged in temporal affairs, he de- voted all his leisure to the cause of his Divine Master ; serving in and out of the Church, wherever and in what- ever precept, example, counsel, or exhortation, could be beneficially applied. But, in order to further his useful- ness — being fully prepared — he applied for ordination, and A.D. 1734, was ordained, and entered as one of the ministry of the Moravian Church. In 1737, he was consecrated Bishop of the Church, by the Bishops Daniel Ernst Jablousky, and David I^itch- man, and by consent and proxy of Bishop Sitkovius, of Lissa, in Poland, who writes, that " He would not only gladly and willingly contribute his vote in writing to the proposed ordination of the Count, but though absent, yet present in spirit, instead of the imposition of his hands, would confirm it with his own handwriting and signa- ture," &c. &c. — Spangenberg's Life of Zinzendorff, p. 233. " His ecclesiastical functions were Bishop, Advocate, Ordinary, and Representative, with full powers, of the Church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, adher- ing to the Augsburg Confession." — Latrobe's Preface to Spangenberg's Life of Zinzendorff, p. vi. ^Notwithstanding the advantages of his birth, education, associations, and wealth, his single eye to the glory of God, forgetting those things that were behind, he reached forth unto those things that were before, and like the IN PHILADELPHIA. 19 great Apostle, pressed toward the mark of his calling of God in Christ Jesus ; and to this end, laying off his epis- copal honors for a season, he came forth from home, as an Ordinarius, with a few followers of a like-minded mis- sionary spirit, to reach and teach, to gather and instruct his scattered German brethren, as also the Indians in North America, becoming " all things to all men, that he might, by all means, save some." He arrived in New York, in the month of November, 1741 ; whenee, after visiting some friends in Long Island, whose acquaintance he had made in St. Thomas, he came to Philadelphia, where, after being the guest of the late venerable John Stephen Benezet (of whose pedigree more in the Appendix), he hired a house, in which he held regular religious services for his immediate adherents, and any others who might feel inclined to avail them- selves of these means of grace. In advance of this, however, he wrote to Gov. Thomas, of the Province, requesting him to send some one who was acquainted with both English and German, to be present at his meetings, in order to test his orthodoxy and avert suspicion of his purpose ; thus, showing him- self freely subject to the powers that be. Having preached in various places, but for a season located in Germantown, in -and about Philadelphia,* he settled down for the Lutherans, whose pastor he con- tinued to be for about nine months ; but differences of opinion arising between him and them, or some of them, he withdrew from their service, and with thirty-four of his adherents formed the Moravian Society, according to * See Life of ZinzendorfiF by the Rev. August Gottlieb Spangenberg, pub- lished iu London, 1838. 20 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH their original tenets ; whicli gave rise to the edifice, long since scattered in atoms, but now to be represented in its original, simple, and unpretending form, feature, and expression. It is not, however, my purpose to write the Life and Character of ZinzendorjBF: that is already before the world, from abler hands, and which has furnished me with the foregoing portrait, besides abundant rebutting evidences against the aspersions, misconceptions, and misconstruction of his religious zeal ; nor can I conceal my pleasure, in the opportunity thus offered, to meet the objections of James Logan, Kalm, and others, as set forth in Watson's Annals ; as well as my grateful emotions in being one of the many, permitted to lodge in the branches of the tree of his planting, and to enjoy the fra^ grance of its fruitful bearing ; not, however as a bigot to sectarianism, nor an exclusive to any other Christian de- nomination ; for God hath said from the beginning : "In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee" (Exod. 20, 24) ; and that he has recorded that Holy Name " from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same," where " incense is offered as a pure offering," is even now a glorious testimony to the infallibility of his word, Christi- anity itself being the pure offering, differing in form, but not in fact ; not in the incense, but in the censer only, that wafts it to the throne of his acceptance ; " for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10: 10.) In advance, however, of my history, it will be but com- mon justice to its origin, to brush from the skirts of Zin- IN PHILADELPHIA. 21 zendorff the spots and the wrinkles blemishing his fair fame^ — there placed by those who could not, or would not, understand him ; and whilst I " Their unlucty deeds relate, Shall nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice," but with honest, yet earnest candor, offer a palliative to the opprobrium, and a shield to the thrusts, so unjustly, if not wantonly, aimed at his character for purity and good behavior. 22 mSTORT OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH CHAPTER n. Watson's Annals versus Count Zinzendorff, and defence against unjust accusations. As History is the handmaid of Time, Time ought to be a veracious chronicler, not only of matters and things, but of men and manners ; and when this handmaid offers her gatherings, it is but meet that she should do so well savored with civility in the preparation for the great public ordinary. Men and manners are important items in history, tenacious of their due, and jealous of an unbiassed furtherance to future generations ; because far and wide goes their fame, and whether for good or evil, an indelible impression either wrinkles or tints the memory of the subject portrayed. Watson's Annals is a very laudable enterprise, and of deservedly popular issue. It has also taken its place in the hibliotheque of the literati, and holds the praise or the censure of many of " such as were ;" amongst whom the founder and patron of the original Church of the Moravian Brethren in Philadelphia, seems not to have been sufficiently popular for the author's reasonably liberal or even qualified estimate. And I must declare in the outset, that had Mr. Watson taken half the pains to cater for Zinzendorff, that he did for James Logan and IN PHILADELPHIA. 23 others, the contrast would have been less oiFensive to his followers, and more creditable to the author. On page 541, vol. i, after announcing the arrival of the Count, and dipping him at once into a " pool" of doubtful reputation for sanity, and reviewing him at least as an oddity, Mr. Watson offers, in confirmation, a letter from him, of 1741-2, to the parents of some young females of his congregation, who were evidently opposed to his mi- nistration, as well as to the adhesion of their daughters to his spiritual guidance. " To THE Cooper, F. Yende, Gbrmantown. " I take you, both man and wife, to be notoriously chil- dren of the devil, and you, the woman, to be a twofold child of hell ; yet I would have your damnation as tolera- ble as possible. The laws provide against such unreason- able parents, and will not suffer you to keep your daughter against her consent. You may vex her soul, if that seven- fold devil which possesseth you will permit. Then consider, and leave your daughter to the congregation." Again, to Neuman, he writes : "In case you die without forcing your daughter away, your former sin shall be forgiven you ; but if you resume your murdering spirit against her soul, by her consent or not, I recall my peace, and you I leave to the devil ; and the curse of your child — thereby lost — shall rest on you till she is redeemed. Amen." Watson adds : " This is really very curious supremacy, as well as theology. Miss L. and Miss V., much against the will of their families, went off to Germany." Differing with Mr. Watson in his conclusions, it is but common justice to the author of this "curiosity," to con- 24 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH aider his position as the father of a Christian gathering, his jealous care of his converts, " his enthusiasm in the cause of his Master, common to almost every soul at its relief from the burden of sin," the spirited zeal of the man, and the forceful idiom of his native tongue. The "supremacy," I presume, consists in the strength of his language. The German language is as forceful as it is comprehen- sive. Its imprecations can be concentrated, and spent in powerful issues, and the severity of its denunciatory powers reach the lethargy of its subjects. But deep as may be the infliction upon his sensibilities, his accustomed ear would not writhe at the application ; whereas literally given in English, trained to the sound and sense of its own vocabulary, the hearer or reader, ignorant of the German idiom, might think it harsh, and perhaps irreconcilable to his own mode of expression ; and this I suppose to be the cause of Mr. Watson's view of the Count's supre- macy. The pastor spoke from the fulness of his heart, impelled by the jealousy of his zeal, and strove against the temporal power, that he thought was infringing or annulling his spiritual gains. He spoke in the tongue best intelligible to his opponents ; their own native, comprehensive, and comprehensible idiom, which to them doubtless was less curious than impressive. His theology, however, is even less vulnerable, for although its curiousness appears to be derived from the application of terms, yet its defence, or, at least, its paral- lel, oflers itself in Holy "Writ : "Woe unto you. Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and laud to make one proselyte, and when IN PHILADELPHIA. 25 he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." So said our Saviour (Matthew 23 : 15) to the opponents of his work. And of St. Paul (Acts 13 : 8, 9, 10) having an untoward suhject hefore him, we read thus : " But Elymas, the sorcerer, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." " Then Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, full of all subtlety and mischief, thou child of the,devil ! thou enemy of all righteousness ! wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord ? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." Without making a St. Paul of our Zinzendorfl^ though he may have been as good a man, it certainly will not be any strain of the point, to place them upon the same footing in their mission, and accord to them equal indul- gence in their mode or language of rebuke to untoward subjects. Argument will scarcely be necessary to obtain this concession. "We may, therefore, ask, wherein coii- sists " the curious supremacy and theology" of Zinzen- dorff's German, more than in St. Paul's Greek ? But if language equally severe has sped from the pulpit of our day, why marvel at the issues of a century ago ! A very venerable and pious herald of the Gross, within this century, rang the welkin of old " St. George's," in North Fourth Street of our city, with the most powerful invectives against sin and sinners, and once said that " Some of them would not believe, unless they were shaken over the pit of hell." Now, although these exemplars may be deemed want- ing in refinement, yet we should remember that the 26 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH obduracy of the natural man cannot always be impressed by the etiquette of parlor politesse ; and whilst some may be successfully chastised with whips, others require scor- pions ! We next come to Ealm, the Swedish traveller, whose ipse dixit Mr. "W., p. 542, same volume, thus offers : "Kalm, the Swedish traveller, here in 1748, says, ' His uncommon behavior here, persuaded many English- men of rank, that he was diseased in his head.' " The total absence of the consideration for this allusion, renders the whole paragraph nugatory, and not available to any adverse conception ; but as we have positive testi- mony to the contrary, it will be but due to his character to give it. \ Nor is it a little remarkable that the venerable Span- genberg, his contemporary and biographer, had unwit- tingly anticipated a direct provision for such an assump- tion in his intercourse with Zinzendorff and his friends, twelve years before "Kalm's Report," to wit, in 1736. On page 217 of " Spangenberg's Life of Zinzendorff," speaking of his sojourn in Revel, in Russia, he writes : "Many persons of rank were uncommonly attached to him, and reflected whether there were no means of re- taining him in the country. He was also urgently re- quested to preach in the Cathedral Church, which he did, on the following "Wednesday." The Cathedral was uncommonly full of persons of all classes, and the people said, " If all sermons were like this, all men would be converted." There does not appear to have been any "disease in his head" at this time, and we have never read or heard of any since. On the contrary, in 1748, when Kalm IN PHILADELPHIA. 27 wrote, much of his natural eccentricity had merged in his own review, and passed into a more modified course. Still, in justice to Kalm, or perhaps more particularly his "Englishmen of rank," it may be but proper to sug- gest a contrast between the general character of the Ger- mans and the English, especially as exhibiting its full force in a temperament like that of Zinzendorff 's, of active energy, rapidity of thought and utterance, and indomi- table zeal, clad in national peculiarities, the lack of quali- fication in th^ critic, unwilling or unwitting, might cause an oblique view of national prejudice. That Zinzendorfi" was eccentric, his best friends do not deny ; but it was natural and not assumed, and in him, the fault of genius. Now, although eccentricity may be, and often is, put on for the occasion, to pass for wit, or to furbish some rusty coin of literary lore, or is too often assumed as a current to popularity, nay even worse, to pass idiocy for common sense, and downright derange- ment for wisdom, yet the general issues of Zinzendorff, whether moral or religious, his life, his labors, and the thousand and one evidences of mind, memory, and un- derstanding, in their fruits, ought ever to be a panoply of justice to his memory, and a shield against the thrusts of error and misunderstanding. But to proceed. Our historian, same vol. p. 542, rather deepens the shades into which the preceding expose thrusts the sub- ject of their animadversion, and clothes him in the rags and tatters of mental mendicity, or decorates him with the fancied implements of Quixotic chivalry; to which end the letter of James Logan reads as follows, which I give verbatim et literatim, because it is but too vulnerable 28 HISTOET OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH in all its parts, " and I intend to meet it according to its deserts." " A MS. letter of James Logan, of the year 1743, written in confidential frankness to a friend, speaks of the Count as follows : " I have had frequent intercourse with him, and heartily wish I could say anything concerning him to satisfaction ; hut his conduct lost him all credit here, being now only regarded by his own few Moravians. " He sent to the Friend's Meeting a letter signed Anne, the Elder, written in an odd French style, which it was difficult to put into any consistent meaning or sense. About the same time he fi-amed an instrument of resigna- tion of all his honors and dignities to some relative. This was done in Latin, but still more odd than his French ; in Bome parts carrying a show of elegance, but in other parts mere nonsense; in other places plain enough, and in others perfectly unintelligible. This he desired me to put in English. As it could not, he had it printed as it was in Latin, and invited the Governor and all who under- stood Latin to meet him. Several met, when he read off his instrument, giving each of them a printed copy ; but after all this parade, he withdrew his papers and himself too, saying, ' On reflection, he must first advise with some of his friends in Germany.' This conduct astonished the company, who generally concluded him insane. He had lately been visiting the Iroquois. In short, he appears a mere knight-errant in religion, scarce less than Don Quixote was in chivalry. Other facts of his singular behavior are mentioned by Logan. I have preserved some other facts, respecting his strange conduct in Ger- mantown. Very wild notions are imputed to him, and IN PHILADELPHIA. 29 told, in detail, by Rimius, of Prussia, who printed a took of it in London, in 1753. The decree of George UI, as Elector of Hanover, against them, and which induced them to come to Pennsylvania, see in the Pennsylvania Journal, of the 20th of December, 1750." Here we have an uncompromising and unqualified tirade against the education, the sanity, and the common sense of the Count! It is fortunate for Zinzendorff's few Moravians that Logan's dictiftn is not gospel ; and vastly marvellous that, after his labors of a whole year in and about Phila- delphia, with a growing popularity, deducible even from the letter " to the Cooper," and " Logan's frequent inter- course" with him, that he could not " find anything con- cerning him satisfactory." "Being only regarded by his few Moravians," Mr. Logan might have allowed him to be beloved, and given him his increase, since, in 1743, he had grown in the afiec- tions of his immediate followers, and joined by others, and was evidently more than regarded, seeing that an ordinary regaixJ, a cool, calculating estimate of his worth, could never have kept these pioneers at work, under the impetus of his suggestions. To this point, his venerable biographer writes : " He then proceeded to Philadelphia, devoted himself as much as the time permitted to his beloved Lutherans, who were also much attached to him, and established a church, consisting of those Englishmen who had recently been brought by the ministry of the Brethren to a knowledge of the Gospel." And again : " Finally, he preached in the evening of the 31st of December, 0. S., on the eve of his departure, in 30 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH the newly erected Moravian Cliurcli, in Philadelphia. During the sermon, his numerous audience were much affected. He left the church before the conclusion of the service, to avoid the pain of taking leave of so many per- sons." Such was the regard of his few Moravians at the very time (1743) when James Logan wrote. Under such testimony, can it be a matter of wonder if we ask, where could James Logan have been at this time ? Can it be possible, that in this mere village he could have been ignorant of a light shining in so small a space, whose rays might have scorched his borders ! Alas, for an unwilling witness ! But, the Count wrote tWo documents, one in French, and one in Latin, both incomprehensible to him ! An unwilling witness and a biassed judge, are two very great obstacles to a fair decision. And it is not a little strange, that Logan, who claimed to rank with the literati, should have been ignorant of or blind to the educational advantages of Zinzendorff. He was born, educated, and travelled, where French and Latin were the common currency of thought; his practice, therefore, if even his scholastic attainments had failed him, would have been a credible pass to his scho- larship ; besides, as a German, his national inheritance rendered the adoption of almost any foreign tongue more of a luxury than a task to his natural facilities. The Germans in general are recherche. They are ex- cellent linguists, especially in Latin and French. The better class speak these languages fluently. The German scholar .thinks in them, and when he writes he embodies his thoughts in them, and presents them as the currency of his mind. IN PHILADELPHIA. 31 Ziuzendorff was a man of many languages ; supplying thought with terms as it sped from his very rapid concep- tions, and traced them to the eye, from his varied powers of speech. Latin, German, or French, were alike to him, and therefore, if these documents were unintelligible to his accuser, they must have been so from the rapidity of his thoughts, supplied in terms, or couched in the tongue of their conception ; perhaps, beyond the limits of Logan or obnoxious to his kindly considerations of patience and forbearance ; and in this view of that matter, I am happy to find I am ably supported by Bishop Spangenberg, whom I have consulted, on page 27-8 of his Preface to his Life of Zinzendorff, where he testifies as follows : " His style and diction were peculiarly his own. His ordinary German was anything but pure, being inter- mixed with a host of words and phrases derived from the French, English, Latin, and other tongues." " Yet, notwithstanding this extraordinary feature, I must confess," observes Miiller, "that his language on the whole pleases me exceedingly. It is colloquial in a high degree, but corresponds as closely to his thoughts as a moistened cloth does to the form of the human body ; so that it is difficult to say how the same ideas could be differently expressed, — the chief characteristic, in my opinion, of a good style. The more original the concep- tions, the more unusual will be the phraseology. And there is not one of his literary productions which does not exhibit traces more or less obvious of genius and ori- ginality. "Whenever he professes to write pure German, he writes admirably, according to the judgment of modern critics." — Miiller's Bekentnisse, pp. 3, 4. 32 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH This part of Logan's famous letter, therefore, must shrink into the deep shades of suspicion, and plead preju- dice for its conception, under such rebutting testimony. The- wonder is, how it could have escaped the eye of Watson, when he gave the Logan Letter to his "Annals," without a single ray from the light of other minds ; but of this, hereafter. The finale of the letter sharpens in severity, and the Count is proclaimed, in effect, a dkrang^. " In short," says he, " he appears a mere knight-errant in religion, scarce less than Don Quixote was in chi- valry ;" a most wonderful terminus of the mental labors of Logan versus Zinzendorff; a sad inheritance to his offspring, and a lamentable legacy to the American Moravian Church. But, thank God, our madhouses are not yet, nor are our asylums, to calm the flights of Quixotic imagination, even in embryo ! And here, I might rest, and muse over Logan's toil to concentrate the bitterness of his asperity (as unworthy of comment), pierced into shades of shame and confusion; by the re- flected rays from the helmet of his Don Quixote ; but the perpetuity of the reflection has gone forth as a text of history, and although futile in fact, is mischievous in effect. But controversy is unnecessary. If we refer to the counsel of Zinzendorff, it stands, because "it is of God." If to the fruits of his doings, our atmosphere is redolent of its sweet-smelling savor; for, " by their fruits, shall ye know them." " Paul, thou art beside thyself," said Festus. " Zinzen- dorff, thou art a very Don Quixote," says Logan. Of this, let the reader judge. IN PHILADELPHIA. 33 That Logan and Zinzendorff were men of very different temperament is obvious, — the one, calm, calculating, and measured in thought and action; the other, restive, pressing to his mark, energetic in speech and decision. They were evidently as opposite in their pursuits in life. Zinzendorff sacrificed dollars and cents at the shrine of his altar, and certainly obtained thereby "a good report;" whilst Logan seems to haVe had another shrine ; and "Watson quotes thus of Logan, vol. ii, p. 524-5 : "When he was a youftg man, and secretary to Penn, he felt an indifference to money, and deemed this a happy retire- ment for the cultivating of the Christian graces; but after he had some experience in life, finding how little respect and infiuence could be usefully exerted without such com- petency as to give a man ready access to good' society, he thenceforth set himself seriously to endeavor, by en- gagements in commerce, to attain that consequence and weight which property so readily confers," as the sacrifice to his; Leaving each to his choice, the comparison and deduc- tion gives Zinzendorff position, without money ; whilst Logan appears to have compromised his " Christian graces" for the glitter of wealth, to illumine his way to the "respect and influence" of good society. Having thus necessarily noticed the letter, and its tendency, of James Logan, as well a prerogative as a duty to the character of the sequel of this book (but in so doing, drawn to the conclusion by its tone and tenor of a prejudiced writer), I find my opinion fully confirmed by a German author, Lbhr, in his " G-escMchte u Zust- ande die Deutchen in Amerika," pp. 75, 7T, 86, 87, where he writes as follows, quoting Logan : 3 34 HISTOKY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH " In 1717, a great number of people from the Palati- nate have, of late, immigrated to this country ; they have come without recommendation, a source of great anxiety. These strangers do not suit amongst us, as the English." In 1729, in a letter to Penn, he thus denounces them : "The Germans," says he, "are impudent and poor strangers, of whom many have served as soldiers. They generally sought out the best tracts, and took possession of them as public property. "When examined as to their right and title, they replied, that in Europe the general report was, that emigrants were wanted, and that there was land in abun- dance for them." And in 1724, he expressed great un- easiness lest "the great number should, vi et armis, possess the land ;" but, in 1726, his fears increase, and he says, " They are a people with whom it is difficult to have intercourse ; the men are well armed, and always ■ ready for battle." Again. " Six hundred men are expected, and if Parlia- ment does not forbid their immigration, the colonies will be lost to the English Crown !" Now, here is abundant evidence of the feverish pulse of Logan floating ignes fatui from his imagination, and wresting from its throne the balancing power of a sound judgment. Fancy fights must have been before him, and the fear of invasion and foreign power behind him. Temporal usurpation seems to have worn upon him first, and the spiritual incursion of Zinzendorff" capped the climax of his fears ; and the whole was seethed, by the heat of his opposition, into the very dregs of prejudice. Even so, for the tirade against the Germans is as untrue IN PHILADELPHIA. 35 as it is unjust; seeing that a more industrious, indefati- gable, and economical people exists nowhere on the globe. A people, whose characteristic is economy; whose motto is economy; and who, connecting it with labor, have ever proved it to be wealth. Their genius, mechanical and agricultural, is prover- bial, and being national, must have been known in Logan's time, in proportion to what they are now; and they were so, as testified by Jonathan Dickinson, who, in 1719, writes as follows : " We are expecting daily vessels from London with six or ^even thousand Germans (Pfalzer), of whom we have had a great number about five years ago, who bought land, and settled some sixty miles west of Philadelphia, and have peaceably and industriously cultivated and improved their lands;" page 73, Lohr. These chroniclers of their time, were both highly re- spectable gentlemen, and yet, this difference of report on the same subject, bears hard upon Logan's denunciation of Zinzendorff, and voluntarily confirms the charge of a mind prejudiced against the Germans and their character. Having thus reviewed Mr. Logan's antisympathetic opinions of Zinzendorff and his countrymen, it is but natural to turn to the perpetuating medium, or its author, of the opinions, in wonder at the apathy that induced their unqualified indorsenaent. Had the Moravian Church been extinguished with the mortal existence of its patron, or were it now wallowing in a slough of doubtful disputations on the soundness of his mind — ^had the one hundred years preceding the issue, offered nothing but oblivion to the search or common in- 36 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH quiry of Mr. "Watson, or the memory of ZinzendorfFbeen shattered to atoms by the maddened bruit of a lunatic asylum — had he never read, heard, or thought of the ex- istence of a Moravian Church in Philadelphia, or been ignorant of its members, their doings, their respectability, and their continued furtherance of Zinzendorfi"'s early, laudable, and, under God, successful labors — then might he have safely handed to posterity the unmitigated cen- sure and opprobrium of Zinzendorff as a Quixotic pre- tender to Christian valor, as well as a pedantic hero of scholastic folly. But it would be injustice to Mr. "Watson to assume all this. One hundred years had elapsed. The green bay tree of his planting had matured to a dignified diameter ; its branches were -vvidely extended ; its foliage perennial, and ever fresh ; its buds, blossoms, and flowers, redolent of a sweet-smelling savor, and its fame world-wide. The Moravian Church and its missions have never been hid "under a bushel;" and yet Mr. "Watson, who com- passed sea and land to gather the pedigree of Logan, and ploughed the fallow ground of England, Sweden, and Prussia, to embellish his opinions of, but derogatory to Zinzendorf, withal seems not to have found anything satisfactory concerning him, — a m(5st wonderful apathy ; for, admitting for the moment the plea of misconception of Logan as a contemporary, Moravians, Moravianism, and its root in America, were certainly no enigmas when "Wat- son indorsed Logan. Let the historian's motto be, "Fiat justitia, ruat coelum." In concluding this part of my introduction, it may not IN PHILADELPHIA. 37 be out of place to remark, that derangement, in whatever form it may have seated itself, whether in the vivacious fancy of a Don Quixote, or the mothy sluggishness of melancholy, very seldom yields to remote generations, but chases time, to chafe its victim without limit, or calcula- tion of a terminus. Now there are at this time several direct male descen- dants of Count Zinzendorff in this country, eminently of sound mind, filling important stations in the Moravian Church, and deservedly popular for their talent, education, and social bearing ; perpetuating the self-sacrificing spirit of their great great grandsire, unlet and unmolested by the frantic impetus of the inheritance common to the un- fortunate offspring of mental aberration. 33 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHVECH CHAPTEE m. ZinzendorfF's Hymnology and Poetic Talent — Defence — Qualification. But for the propi'iety and the desire to present the ori- ginal labors of Zinzendorff in America, but more espe- cially in our city, stripped of the stigma of a curiosity of his times, it were less necessary than expedient, to clear my passage to his borders. And so far as we are con- cerned, Watson's biographical hint, as well as the subject before me, might have slept on the " cooling-board of time." In pursuance, therefore, of duty, justice, and propriety, I take occasion further to note an ingenuous objection in the twelfth volume of " Chambers's Repository ;" which, after a lucid and kindly view of the Count and his doings, thus proceeds : ".In the older and more objectionable hymns, we find a number puerile, others highly off'ensive in taste and imagery !" Undeniable as is this truth, it is not beyond controversy, nor obnoxious to defence or palliation. The eccentricity of Zinzendorff" is conceded ; and was especially apparent in his colloquial and idiomatic man- ner of venting his conceptions. His imagination was vivid, susceptible, and rapid ; whilst the warmth of his temperament, imbued with childlike simplicity, embodied and gave wings to the IN PHILADELPHIA. 39 ardor of his zeal ; and the obstacle of poetic refinement was merged in the more facile current of poetical license. Hence, the puerility of his imagery was, doubtless, adapted to that of his babes in Christ, with whom he had constant intercourse, and to whom he spoke, professionally and so- cially, in terms and similies most familiar to their under- standfng. Much of which, however adapted to his times and purposes, must appear crude in ours, after the polish of a hundred years of even the mode of thinking. The strength of some other of his imagery, though couched offensively to our ears, was certainly not so to the hearers of his times, any more than was the very extra- vagant terms of the fourth song of Solomon to the trans- lators and compilers of the Old Testament. Enthusiasm appears to have elasticised their imagination, and their conceptions reflected the impress in bold and unfledged imagery. His poetic genius, notwithstanding, was rich, apt, and forcible. Latrobe, in his preface to his Life, says, "As a hymnolo- gist, he claims a distinguished rank in Germany." Again, " They" — his hymns — " are, as might be expected, of unequal merit, are pervaded by the spirit of genuine poetry." " So fertile was his genius, and so ready his power of versification, that he not unfrequently composed and gave out extemporaneous hymns, which were sung by the church in his house, or by the congregation as- sembled on festal occasions." Testimony of his poetic genius is not necessary. But the reference above is offered to show that the puerility on the one hand, and the oflensiveness on the other, of some of his hymnology, were the pure ofierings of a 40 HISTOEY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH -% grateful heart, consecrated to the service of his Lord and Master, and by no means the evaporation of a diseased head. "Willing to admit the whims, oddities, and imperfections of Zinzendorff, we feel and know that they can all be compassed in the bands of charitable conclusions. Eccentricities are often spasmodic, but not the less sane and sound in their issues ; but the results of the labors of such a one ought to be forever a passport of their memory to generations to come. In the case of our patron, we can give him the fruits of his hands, and let his own works praise him in the gates, and thus present him shining through the clouds of obloquy, and lighting up the path of his opening< to the succession of his spiritual administration. \ • Q wa/jo D /JJHOJ./}/ . tvooy Jl/OJS- IN PHILADELPHIA. 41 CHAPTEE IV. The Location of the first Moravian Church — Title, &c. In pursuaiKft of his object to establish a cburcli and congregation, and in conformity with the earnest desire of those converted under his ministry, he selected and took up a lot of ground, at the southeast corner of an avenue, between Second and Third Streets, running south to Arch Street, of thirty-five feet on Race Street, by one hundred and two feet on the avenue or alley. This avenue took the name of Moravian Alley, and was so recognized until the march of improvement, that so veraciously fedds on ancient landmarks, thought well to refine it to Bread Street, why or wherefore, it would be hard to tell ; it was, however, a whim of our city fathers, who a few years ago did so alter and amend the names and finger-boards of ~all our lanes, streets, and alleys, that our citizens became not only strangers in their own city, but strangers were misled and confused as to their earlier knowledge of the facilities of Philadelphia for former regularity. The lot above mentioned was secured and appropriated about the middle of the year 1742, but the regular deed did not pass, and wa-s not executed till August 20th, 1743. Whatever may have been the cause of this suspension of formal or legal transfer, history or tradition does not say ; 42 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH certain, however, it is, that the title did then pass, and was vested as follows : Deed, August 20, 1743. William Allen and wife, to Samuel Powell, Joseph Powell, Edward Evans, William Rice, John Okley, and Owen Rice, for thirty-five feet of ground, east and west, on Sassafras Street, by one hundred and two feet deep, which Andrew Hamilton, the father of Margaret, wife of William Allen, by his will, 31st of July, 1741, devised to his said daughter. Reddendum to the said William Allen and wife, her heirs and assigns, for the yearly rent of 51. 5s. sterling, from the 16th I^ovember, yearly, forever. This was of course a trust, by common consent, but not declared till 1746, when the following Declaration of Trust was made by the above Samuel Powell, et alia, as follows : Declaration or Trust, April 22, 1746. Declaring the use to be vested in a certain congregation of Christian people, as well German as English, residing in the city of Philadelphia, belonging to the Church of the Evangelic Brethren, who had caused to be erected thereon a new building, for and then in their use and service, and intended so to be and remain in their use and service, for and as a church and school-house, to S. Lewis, Thurnstein Knight, David Nitchman, Joseph Spangenberg, Henry Antes, John Broomfield, and Charles Brockden. Deed, August 20, 1761. Joseph Spangenberg, et alia, conveys to Peter Bohler, IN PHILADELPniA. 43 Nathaniel Seidel, Gottlieb Petzold, Frederick Marshall, and Timothy Horsefield, all the above lot, together with the church and parsonage then completed. Thus far the Society had been confined to the above thirty-five feet, but subsequently they purchased the lot adjoining on the east, twenty-five feet front on Eace Street, more or less. Title derived as follows : Deed, January 2, 1739-40. * James Parrock to Lawrence Kunze, twenty-five feet on Race Street, by one hundred and two feet deep, on gi'ound- rent of SI. 16s. 6d. per annum. Kunze died intestate, and the lot was afterwards sold and conveyed as follows : Deed, January 15, 1782. Jacob von Reid and Margaret his wife, Henry "Winne- more, Jacob Clein and Mary his wife, and Conrad Ort and Mary his wife, heirs of Lawrence Kunze, to John Cornman, Godfrey Hager, Conrad Gerhard, Adam Goos, George Schlosser, and John Peter. Consideration, BOOL Pennsylvania currency. Altho'ugh these lots were separately conveyed, their interest and purpose was one, and they finally became so in form as well as in fact. The succession of trusts, how- ever, continue until December 25th, 1851, when it was vested in the " Elders of the First Moravian Church of Philadelphia," by John "Warner and Thomas C. Lucders, the last surviving trustees of the succession. Against the ancient possession of this lot, the Church 44 HISTORY OF THE MORAVIAN CHURCH proper, dignified by time, yet but a mote to tbe eye of Dame Capricio, the fatal march of improvement pre- sented, urged^ and enforced its claims,— a privilege purely American ; but the memento of tlie venerable Zinzendorfl was to be scattered to the winds. Admitting the incapacity of the edifice for an increasing congregation, there was wealth enough in the church to preserve this ancient landmark, and locate elsewhere and. more eligibly. The question was agitated, but subdued by the very power that should have cast its influence in the scale of protection. Again there was a proposition to do what has recently been done, to sell this, however — which would have been as bad and perhaps worse than what was done — and build, either in the centre or on the edge of the Burial-Ground, onYine Street ; but the project failed, and in the early part of the year 1819, it was finally and fully determined to pull down, and rebuild on the same old site. On the 12th of May, 1819, the corner-stone of the new church was laid. But there I must leave it, until its pre- decessor gives place to its claims ; ad interim, however, it will not be out of place to introduce, in connection with the earlier dates, the Burial-Ground, with its title and location. IN PHILADELPHIA. 45 CHAPTER V. The Burial-Ground — Title— First interments, &c. &c. The cliur»h had no burial-ground of its own, from its date, 1743 to 1757 ; and it appears, from the church register, which dates from January 1st, 1743, that the dead were interred in various grounds in the city, either by courtesy or contract. The first entry reads thus : " 1744. Mrs. Manny, the wife of Manny, of this town, sail-maker, departed this life, September 25th, and was buried in the English Church burying-ground, the day following, aged sixty years." Second, thus: "Frederick Clemm, a married man, of this town, barber, departed this life, October 14th, and was buried in the Potter's Eield, by John Jacob Doeh- ling; aged about thirty years." "1745. "William, the son of William and Kebeka Nixon, departed this life, March, 12th, aged two months ; was buried in William Price's lot, near Bedminster, the day following, by Christopher Pyraleus." " 1746. Mary Batson, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Batson, departed this life, January 2d, and was buried, the day following, in Thomas Say's Burying- Ground." Say's Burying-Ground is situate on Third Street, 4G HISTORY OP THE MORAVIAN CHURCH west side, between Market and Arch, probably origi- nally on the line of the street ; but now bounded on the east by two stores, ISTos. 34 and 36 ; and on the west and north by the Quaker Burying-Ground. Immediately on the south, adjoining, there was a pri- vate burial-ground, located and owned by James Porteus, a bachelor, who lived in the kitchen of the main build- ing, and died, and was buried on his lot, about one hun- dred and fifty feet from the line of Third Street, whose slab yet marks the spot, and thus records : " Here lays the body of James Porteus, who departed this life, the 19th day of January, 1733, aged seventy-two years." The above are verbatim et literatim copies from the record, and are given as well as specimens of old-time simplicity, as to fill the gap from 1743 to 1757, touching the very important appendage to every church, — a deposi- toi'y for the dead. This gap is filled by seventy-six recorded deaths. The two last read thus: "Juliana Clay, a widow, went home to our Saviour, 5th of October, '57, and was buried in Kingston — probably Kensington. She lived two miles out of town. She wag a friend to us, but not received into our Society." " Sarah Thorn, wife of William Thorn, went home to our Saviour, October 21st, and was buried in the Quaker Burying-Grround ; aged about 30 years." From 1757 to 1764, there were other deaths and inter- ments out of and from the Mission, principally converted Indians, and a few whites, as heretofore, in different grounds, as, perhaps, opportunity offered, or circum- stances required. Of such there were fifty-five, male and female, young and old. IN PIIILADELPniA. 47 The margin notes : " Indians departed in the Barracks, and at Philadelphia, in the year 1764, and buried in the Potter's Field, in the year 1764 ; of these, forty-nine were of the above fifty-five." In 1757, the Society purchased a lot, for burial pur- poses, thus recorded : ^ Deed, May 10, 1757. Samuel Jones and Amy his wife, heirs of Joshua Law- rence, to Le\v